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Why does the Clark County School District have a budget deficit? We need to consider the money that is budgeted and how that money is spent.

Nevada has had some of the lowest per-pupil funding in the United States for a long time, an indication that Nevada does not budget enough money for educating our children.

A forensic audit would help us all to understand how CCSD spends the money it does receive. How much is spent on programs and gadgets and gimmicks? How many administrative positions in district offices have a significant positive impact on our students? How much bargaining power does the fifth-largest school district in the nation have to negotiate prices? We need more information, and people need to be held accountable.

The district reorganization was supposed to put more decision making and more of our resources closer to our children. A hiring freeze on teachers should be the absolute last resort. Studies at Stanford University showed that the most important factor a system can control in educating students was the quality of the teacher in the classroom.

Clark County has a diverse and transient student population and many other unique characteristics that make it challenging to educate children here. We owe it to our children to examine the facts on budgets and spending, instead of throwing around clichés and ideological beliefs. What is a reasonable budget, and how should it be spent?